r5 





ANNUAL ADDRESS 



1910 



The M®w Inla\iiinipglhiflire lEdgaide m the 

Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the N. H. Society, Sons of the American Revolution, July 12, 1910. 

By William Elliott. Griffis, I). />., L. 11. D. 



No one of the thirteen colonies ex- 
ceeded New Hampshire in the num- 
ber of men, proportionate to her popu- 
lation, which she put into the field 
during the Revolutionary War. Out 
of the total population of 82,000 she 
sent seventeen regiments into the na- 
tional service. As the number of men 
enrolled in 1775 was but 16,710, she 
virtually called upon all her sons of 
military age to serve the cause of 
freedom. 

On reading the king's proclama- 
tion forbidding the importation of 
munitions of war into the American 
colonies — which meant royal co- 
ercion and war — Sullivan and Lang- 
don began hostilities December 13, 
1774, before the men of any other col- 
ony, by seizing the powder at Fort 
William and Mary, in Portsmouth 
Harbor. This was the beginning. 
At the end of the war there were New 
Hampshire troops still in the Conti- 
nental service. Besides this striking 
numerical superiority and early ac- 
tivities around Boston, New Hamp- 
shire was behind no other colony in 
sending her sons over a wide area of 
territory. To say nothing of those 
in the service on sea, in both men-of- 
war and privateers. New Hampshire 
men fought in Canada, under Arnold 
and Montgomery, and it was Gen. 
John Sullivan who so skilfully con- 
ducted the retreat. For his signal 
services in overcoming all difficulties 
he received appointment as major 
general. We find soldiers from the 
Granite State in Virginia and pos- 
sibly further south, while on the west- 
em frontier, Bennington, Avhich was 



then in New York, was virtually New 
Hampshire's victory, for Stark held 
her commission. All this long and 
glorious record of New Hampshire is 
worth recalling. Like gold it does 
not dim, but a little burnishing in 




William Elliott Griffis. D. D.. L. H. D. 

memory keeps it in full splendor. 

On the other hand, as compensa- 
tion, New Hampshire was never, dur- 
ing the war, invaded by the foe. Her 
soil was untraversed by foreign 
enemies and her coast was virtually 
immune from naval aggression, while 
from her port went forth a succes- 
sion of victorious men-of-war, under 
the thirteen-striped flag, the first of 



.Gc ?r 



the colonies. Then, with stars added 
to its blue fieldj they sailed under 
the stars and stripes of the United 
States of America. New Hampshire, 
in its legislative hall at Concord, pos- 
sesses a portrait in oil of Johannes de 
Graeff, the Dutch governor of the 
island of St. Eustatius in the West 
Indies, who, on November 16, 1776, 
after reading the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, ordered the first salute fired 
in honor of the American flag. 

Nevertheless, to my mind, the 
crowning glory, above the many hon- 
ors, won by the soldiers of New Hamp- 
shire was in the great march of 1779 
through the western wilderness, which 
virtually destroyed the Iroquois Con- 
federacy, opening the path of civiliza- 
tion westward, and, by putting an end 
to the flank and rear attacks by sav- 
ages on our settlements along the long 
frontier, made Yorktown possible. 

This expedition, for which Wash- 
ington detached one third of the Con- 
tinental army, had been made neces- 
sary by the formidable incursions of 
the red men along the whole frontier, 
from New Hampshire to Virginia. 
A special force of five thousand reg- 
ulars, all picked and veteran, was to 
leave their bases of supplies, and, 
passing beyond the confines of civili- 
zation, was to disappear in the forest, 
floating, cutting and marching their 
way through the wilderness to the 
Genesee Valley. The goal was not the 
British fort at Niagara, but the capi- 
tal town of the Seneca Indians, who 
were the scourge of three states. Such 
an expedition, with its need of elabo- 
rate and costly preparation and its 
vast risks, was decided upon only 
after full discussion and vote of Con- 
gress, and by arrangement with 
Washington. A mutual agreement be- 
tween Congress and the commander- 
in-chief was then made, that during 
that year, 1779, or at least while this 
army of chastisement was abroad, no 
important military operations should 
be carried on by the main army ; for, 
subtracting the four brigades and the 



artillery and riflemen sent into the 
wilderness, our great Fabius had not 
left over ten thousand effective regu- 
lars, against a British army of over 
thirty thousand. 

When it comes to the literary 
proofs and the written records of the 
witnesses, we are abundantly supplied 
with a correct knowledge of the great 
march. Of the extant journals of 
officers, numbering nearly fifty, New 
Jersey and New Hampshire furnished 
seven each. New York six, Pennsyl- 
vania four and Massachusetts one. 
That of Col. Adam Hubley of Penn- 
sylvania, both for text and drawings, 
and for what a critical scholar wishes 
most to know, as to topography, In- 
dian life, the details of the campaign, 
etc., is perhaps the best of all; but 
certainly next to Hubley 's for exact 
information, vividness of presenta- 
tion, elegant style, literary exactness 
and general value, I should award the 
prizes to Lieut.-Col. Henry Dearborn 
of the Third, and Maj. Jeremiah Fogg 
of the Second New Hampshire Regi- 
ments. In general it was the min- 
isters' sons in the army that were the 
superior penmen. 

The New Hampshire Continental 
Brigade, according to the roster made 
by Hon. Charles P. Greenough of 
Boston, consisted of the first, second 
and third New Hampshire regiments 
(Continentals). 

Enoch Poor was brigadier-general, 
Jeremiah Fogg aide-de-camp, Elihu 
Marshall brigade major, and Rev, 
Israel Evans the chaplain. The 
colonels in their order were Joseph 
Cilley of the First, Lieutant-Colonel 
Reid of the Second, and Lieut.-Col. 
Henry Dearborn of the Third. In 
August, 1779, for the purpose of this 
single expedition, there were trans- 
ferred to Poor's brigade Alden's 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, under 
Maj. Daniel Whiting, and the Second 
New York Regiment, under Philip 
Van Cortlandt. When orders came 
detailing the brigade for "the west- 
ern expedition," they were in camp 



m 



at Redding, Conn., where they had 
wintered. Their first notable work 
was to be the arduous one of helping 
to build a road from Easton to Wy- 
oming over the Pocono Plateau, now 
traversed by the Lackawanna Rail- 
road. At Redding, Conn., they be- 
gan to construct their winter huts, 
December 4, 1778. These they fin- 
ished in a short time and tarried in 
them till the 10th of April, when they 
went to the highlands on the North 
River and stayed until May 9, 1779. 

Two or three of the journals gave 
daily details of the march through 
New York and New Jersey to Easton. 
Ensign Daniel Gookin tells us that his 
regiment started from North Hamp- 
ton, N. H., May 4, and after moving 
through the Massachusetts towns past 
Springfield, his dog Bark left him. 
Thence his route was through Con- 
necticut to Salem, N. Y., to Fishkill, 
where he moved over the North River, 
lodging at Newburg, at which General 
Poor arrived to take command. The 
weather through New Jersey was very 
wet. Near Easton he was surprised 
at the fine mills built by the Mora- 
vians and, in the city, with the solid- 
ity of the stone dwellings and public 
buildings. He said he heard a sermon 
"in Dutch," which of course means 
German, and noticed the fine music 
of the organ. In the afternoon he 
went to church and heard a sermon 
preached by the chaplain of the New 
Jersey brigade. Each of the brigades 
had a spiritual adviser, who in every 
case was a man of ability and char- 
acter who is remembered in history. 
One of these, the Rev. Israel Evans, 
who is commemorated by a bronze tab- 
let on the walls of the First Congrega- 
tional Church in this city, served dur- 
ing the whole Revolutionary War, 
first with New York regiments and 
then as chaplain of General Poor's 
New Hampshire brigade, acting for 
a time as aide-de-camp to Sullivan. 

Some of the New Hampshire men 
made a pleasure ride up the Lehigh 
River to the bright, clean town of the 



Moravians, Bethlehem, which, during 
the whole war, remained the chief 
place of hospitals for the Continental 
sick and wounded. 

At Easton, where the artillery was 
parked and the troops assembled, 
they were obliged to wait until June 
18. Sullivan was harassed by the de- 
lays and lack of provisions and sup- 
plies, and . most of the meat was 




Major-General John Sullivan 

spoiled before it could be used. The 
excuse given was that the coopers 
were all away with the Continental 
army, and the old casks being all 
requisitioned, only green timber could 
be used, which, in summer especially, 
soured the brine and ruined the con- 
tents. Writers like Bancroft, who 
have not appreciated the purpose, the 
difficulties or the value of this ex- 
pedition, even as at the time people 
did not understand its large propor- 
tions and true object, have blamed 
Sullivan, when the fault was not his. 
Happily, however, as the optimistic 
Major Fogg afterwards wrote, these 
very delays actually furthered the 
success of the expedition. The time 
lost in waiting was utilized by unhur- 
ried nature to ripen the corn, pump- 



6 



kins and other vegetable food for 
what the Continentals called "the 
Succotash Campaign," though the 
diet was occasionally varied with deer, 
turkey and rattlesnake meat. 

Capt. Daniel Livermore of the 
Third New Hampshire Regiment gives 
the detail of the march from New- 
burg to New Windsor in New York, 
to Bethlehem, to Bloomsgrove Church, 
Chester to Warwick, to Hardistan 
and through New Jersey to Sussex 
state house, to Easton. 

At Easton the troops were several 
times reviewed by General Sullivan 
and were exercised in the manoeuvres 
of forming and displaying columns, 
crossing defiles, etc. They left Easton 
with regret, finding it a pleasant 
town, and on Saturday, June 19, 
started northward to pass through 
Wind Gap, this being the only open- 
ing for many miles in the long chain 
of the Appalachian Mountains. 
Thence their march was to be over 
the desolate Pocono plain, two thou- 
sand feet high, now traversed by the 
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 
Railway. Far-seeing Washington's 
purpose was, not only to destroy sav- 
agery, but to open the pathway of 
civilization westward, and Sullivan 
did it. The road which he cut 
through the wilderness became after- 
ward the pathway of the pioneers, 
who cut down the forests, built homes, 
seeded the new clearings and the old 
maize lands of the Iroquois, reared 
the church and schoolhouse and 
changed the wilderness into a garden. 
In the view of humanity this expedi- 
tion was for the rescue of captives 
and the protection of homes on the 
border; in the eye of strategy, it was 
to ruin the enemy's granary, put to 
an end his flank and rear attacks, and 
prepare the way for Yorktown. 

Let us pause here and take the 
point of view of a war correspondent 
on the ground, in the early summer of 
1779. 

The main army, making rendezvous 
at Easton, consisted of the Pennsyl- 



vania, New Jersey and New Hamp- 
shire brigades. Proctor's regiment of 
artillery, with nine guns, two being 
heavy howitzers throwing shell, one 
hundred and fifty fifers and drum- 
mers, three hundred and fifty rifle- 
men, with pioneers and axemen, 
teamsters, surveyors and various as- 
sistants, numbering in all thirty-five 
hundred. The expedition is to have 
a total strength of probably six thou- 
sand men, of whom nearly five thou- 
sand are combatants. Seven hundred 
boats in all will be employed, and 
from Wyoming, one thousand, two 
hundred pack horses. 

The wisdom of Washington is strik- 
ingly displayed at especially four 
points: First, in utilizing the water- 
ways as far as possible ; second, in 
insisting that the artillery, even the 
heavy guns, shall be taken along and 
carried as far as they may be floated 
on boats, leaving the lighter pieces to 
be drawn by horses and men to the 
goal of the expedition — the great 
Seneca town on the Genesee ; third, in 
having every rod of the way measured 
by surveyors, for the great com- 
mander expects success and has an eye 
to the future; and lastly, in the se- 
lection of the personnel, on whom 
everything depended. Except the 
splendid body of New Jersey veterans, 
the men were drawn from the three 
states with the longest of exposed 
frontiers, — New Hampshire, New 
York and Pennsylvania. Endless 
jeering was made and fun poked at 
the idea of taking artillery into the 
wilderness; but Washington knew the 
Indian as few of his soldiers did, and 
he was convinced of the demoralizing 
effect of cannon upon the savage. 
Subsequent events fully justified his 
wisdom. 

As to the commanding general, 
what we say on New Hampshire soil 
concerning him, to whom this great 
work and responsibility for five thou- 
sand men to be taken into the roadless 
forest country of a subtle enemy, we 
should say in every state of the Union 



I 



1 

1 



or beyond sea. No better man could 
have been chosen. Sullivan was to be 
pitted against able foes, white and 
red. The Iroquois and Butler's rang- 
ers from Canada were versed in all 
the lore of woodcraft. The march was 
to be for three hundred miles, much 
of the way through the twilight of 
dense woods. There were no bases of 
supplies, no hope of a retrieval in 
case of defeat, no hospitals, no cities, 
towns or villages at hand. Every 
pound of flour and ounce of meat 
had to be carried on the backs of 
horses, while no provender could be 
carried for these patient brutes. They 
must subsist as best they could. Even 
the military evolutions must be per- 
formed, as it were, in the twilight of 
the all-encompassing foliage. Wash- 
ington chose the right man for the 
work when he selected Sullivan, the 
New Hampshire leader. 

Apart from being inured to the 
hardships of the frontier, New Hamp- 
shire men knew how to handle the 
axe. Accustomed to hard work in the 
open, and good marchers, no obstacles 
of swamp, morass, hill, defile or rocky 
steep could daunt them. Van Cort- 
landt's and Spencer's New York regi- 
ments had been detailed to open a 
road through the forests of Pocono 
Plateau, and on the 7th of May 
Colonel Cilley's First New Hamp- 
shire regiment, was sent to assist in 
the arduous work of laying corduroy 
in the swamps. By June 14 they 
emerged from the shades of the forest. 
The sight of the lovely Wyoming Val- 
ley must have seemed like a garden 
of the Lord — a Promised Land beck- 
oning them to victory. 

Four days later the main army, 
with the artillery and wagon trains, 
started from Easton, soon leaving be- 
hind the magazine of supplies, ever 
since called "Sullivan's Stores," and 
the last human habitation — a log 
cabin sixteen miles from Wind Gap, 
the gateway out of civilization. Over 
stony ground and quaking bog-cover- 
ing of logs laid on mire and marshes, 



and through the gloomy swamp called 
"The Shades of Death," yet with oc- 
casional glorious mountain views of 
inspiring scenery, the terrible march 
of sixty-five miles was finished on 
June 23 at Wyoming. 

We pass over disappointments, de- 
lays, and all things vexatious — only 
noting the cruelty of arm-chair crit- 




Gen. Enoch Poor 

ics and disparagers ignorant of the 
situation — and note that Sullivan, 
unappalled at the poor equipment and 
commissariat and the absence of 
promised reinforcements, gave the or- 
der to advance at 1 p. m. July 31, on 
the firing of a signal gun. With ban- 
ners flying, drums beating, fifes 
screaming and Colonel Proctor's 
regimental band playing a lively air 
— probably the "White Cockade," or 
possibly "Yankee Doodle" — the whole 
army and fleet moved simultaneously 
forward, the entire force on land and 
water stretching out in two lines 
nearly a league. 

Yet it was not all plain pushing, 
poling, sailing or marching. The 
boats must move upward against the 
current; and, between the difficulty 
of breasting the Susquehanna Rap- 
ids, surmounting the rifts and avoid- 
ing the shallows, and of getting on 



8 



with packhorses not over-skilfuUy 
loaded and given to stumbling, fall- 
ing and losing their packs, the dignity 
of the array could not be maintained 
by either boats or animals, up to the 
same standard exhibited by disci- 
plined and intelligent human beings. 
Indeed, along the whole route there 
were many things to tickle the risibil- 
ities of the general and officers, and 
sometimes a sense of humor prevailed 
over the theories of discipline. Pass- 
ing the fort, they received a salute of 
thirteen guns, which was answered by 
an equal number of "honor shots" 
from the fleet. Naturally the march- 
ing men made more progress than the 
boats, for the latter were manned by 
crews not trained to their business. 
The down-rushing waters opposed the 
advancing scows, the channel was 
unknown, the current was swift and 
the shallows and risks were many. 
Above the boatmen, on the right and 
left, in the many gaps made by the 
great river, rose the cliffs, two or three 
hundred feet high. In many places 
the army had to climb the heights, 
following the great "Warrior Path." 
Over many a steep place tremendous 
difficulty was found in getting the 
heavily laden horses and the cattle 
forward. But day by day the men 
learned by experience in their new 
duties, though Cilley's regiment, on 
one occasion when on duty as rear 
guard, was all night long and until 
two hours after sunrise picking up 
the stragglers. The windings in the 
river made the distance for the boats 
greater than for the men. Besides, 
there were various streams to be 
forded and all along were indications 
of lurking savages. Sullivan, taking 
no risk, and determined above all, 
whatever else would happen, not to be 
"Braddocked," doubled his flanking 
guards when he came to Wyalusing 
and elaborated a rough system of sig- 
nals, so that information could be 
communicated to all parts of the 
army. 
Now began the casualties. A boat- 



man fell overboard and was drowned. 
A New Jersey sergeant died suddenly, 
after marching all day. A cattle 
guardsman, temporarily left behind 
on account of sickness, was found 
dead. Each of these men was given 
an honorable burial. Despite the 
heavy rain, while the army rested, a 
New York sergeant with three men 
and a Stockbridge Indian were sent 
ahead as scouts and ordered to go as 
far as Tioga Point. Today along 
the line of the Lehigh Valley Kail- 
way, over and past places since made 
historic, the army pushed its way, 
passing Standing Stone, and moving 
over the precipitous ledge of rock, 
where, for more than four hundred 
feet, the path lies along the crest, 
two hundred feet above the level of 
the river. It is no wonder that on 
that hot day of August 9 some of the 
men gave out and had to be carried 
in the boats, while three of the cattle 
fell off and were killed. Among the 
rifts and shallows the boatmen were 
wearied almost to death, so that the 
fleet fell behind the army. On the 
other side of the river the first appli- 
cations of Washington's torch — 
that flame-kindler which gave his 
name ever afterwards among the Iro- 
quois, of the Town Destroyer, was 
made when Captain Gifford burned 
the Indian town of twenty-eight new 
long houses. 

At the ford of Sugar Creek vthe 
wary Sullivan, fearing a possible at- 
tack, reinforced Gifford with Cilley's 
and Van Cortlandt's regiments. Noth- 
ing happened, however, and at the 
present village of Milan, a mile below 
the junction of the Chemung and 
Susquehanna rivers, the whole army 
forded the river, slinging their guns, 
powderhorns and cartridges over their 
shoulders. Holding each other by the 
hand, or linking arms, the men 
stepped in and waist-deep crossed 
through the swift current. After a 
mile's march they reached Tioga 
Point, where the whole army, includ- 
ing the right wing from Schenectady 



and the left from Pittsburg, were ex- 
pected to join forces and then attempt 
the wilderness by striking northward 
through the lake country and west- 
ward to the Genesee. 

Before these New Yorkers came, 
and on the same night of his arrival 
at Tioga, August 11, Sullivan, having 
sent out a scouting party, received 
word that the enemy were near. This 
determined him at once upon a night 
attack at 8 p. m. on the 12th. Taking 
most of the New Hampshire men and 
Hand's light troops, he plunged 
through the forest, over rocky ledges, 
tangled thickets, miry swamps and 
deadly defiles. 

When near the Indian town which 
had been reported Sullivan sent Hand 
with his Pennsylvanians to strike the 
rear, while Poor and his New Hamp- 
shire men of Cilley's First Regiment 
moved upon the front. Just before 
sunrise the two bodies of troops met, 
but the birds had flown. Having re- 
ceived word from their runners, the 
red men had utterly abandoned the 
place, so that nothing but the houses 
and hastily quitted debris were seen. 
The Pennsylvanians, eager to avenge 
Wyoming, pressed on with more zeal 
than caution and some of the New 
Hampshire men followed with them. 
While pursuing the Indians they came 
into a defile and ambuscade. From 
high ground they were fired upon and 
five men were killed and eight 
wounded, two being from Cilley's 
regiment. With a cheer, our men 
rushed up the hill and sent the In- 
dians flying in a moment ; but crossing 
the river, the savages again stealthily 
crept near, fired a volley and wounded 
four or five New Hampshire men. 
Sullivan's orders recalled the soldiers, 
and wisely, too, from further pursuit. 
Sixty of the hundred or more acres of 
corn were cut down and the rest left 
standing for the future use of the 
army, on their return march in Sep- 
tember. The troops, wearied with 
fatigue and the great heat, returned 
to camp, reaching Tioga on the 13th. 



The seven corpses put on horses were 
brought to Tioga Point and buried, 
with solemn ceremonies, in one grave, 
Proctor's band playing the dirge, 
Roslin Castle, and the chaplain. Rev. 
Dr. William Rogers of the Pennsyl- 
vania brigade, officiating with a few 
appropriate words. The fourteen 
wounded were found rough accommo- 
dation in the log hospital. 




Chaplain and Aide 



Somewhat over a hundred years 
later, in digging for the foundations 
of the Tioga Historical Society build- 
ing, wherein may be found a large 
collection of Sullivan data and relics 
from the Newtown battlefield, these 
bones, known from the records and 
recognized by their Continental but- 
tons, were thrown out and honorably 
reinterred. Several of the men, who 
then or later died at this place were 



10 



n 



sons of New Hampshire and should be 
commemorated. 

Meanwhile Sullivan was getting 
anxious about his right wing, consist- 
ing of the New York Brigade (which 
included the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth 
New York regiments) ; Alden's Sixth 
Massachusetts, Butler's Fourth Penn- 
sylvania, Parr's riflemen and Lamb's 
artillery (two guns) ; in all about 
one thousand, eight hundred men and 
two hundred and fifty boats, under 
General Clinton, to whom he had sent 
orders to march and join him. Fear- 
ing that he might have been checked 
by Brant's movements, Sullivan de- 
termined to send a supporting column 
to meet him. 

It is undeniable that Sullivan fa- 
vored the New Hampshire brigade, 
made up of men from his own state, 
but in a manner not to be found fault 
with. The favor which he showed 
them meant always hard work, with 
fatigue and danger. Having given 
Cilley's men an opportunity to show 
their mettle in pioneer road-making 
and in the first aggressive movement, 
he now selected about five hundred 
New Hampshire soldiers and joining 
these with an equal number from the 
Pennsylvania Brigade, on the 16th of 
August sent Poor and Hand with 
picked men northeastwardly to meet 
Clinton. Happily they had not to go 
very far. Clinton had started on 
August 9 and Poor's advance mes- 
sengers reached him on the 18th. The 
distance of the two corps apart was 
only nine miles, and General Poor 
heard with agreeable surprise Clin- 
ton's evening gun, which answered 
with a blast from the little coehorn 
mortar. The next morning, at a 
place, now on the Erie Railway, which 
took its name from the event, the two 
columns made Union. The united 
body, Clinton's brigade leading and 
the flotilla of boats (250) and 
Poor's reinforcements following, they 
reached Owego, and on Sunday, Au- 
gust 22, the whole force, on land and 
water, made a brilliant display, with 



flags flying and artillery booming wel- 
come, the main army saluting with 
ringing cheers. On the way down 
Clinton's men had devastated the In- 
dian villages and cornfields. 

Let us now glance at the activities 
of the left wing, whose place of gath- 
ering was four hundred miles from 
that of the right at Schenectady. This 
left wing, under Colonel Brodhead, 
had started from Pittsburg on the 
11th of August with six hundred and 
fifty men, with one month's provisions 
loaded on boats and packhorses, de- 
stroying, as they advanced, many In- 
dian towns. 

Sullivan received news by two run- 
ners, who reached him at Tioga Point, 
but Brodhead 's men, getting as far 
as Hornellsville, were obliged to re- 
turn for want of provisions, though 
not until they had wasted much of the 
Seneca country and decidedly weak- 
ened the enemy by drawing off five 
hundred warriors — at least one 
fourth of the whole fighting strength 
of the Indian Confederacy. In rags 
and barefoot and their pay nine 
months in arrears, and no money and 
no paymasters at Fort Pitt, these 
brave fellows continued patriotic and 
in service. 

In camp, at Tioga Point, tents were 
cut up to make bags for the flour and 
these loaded on the horses and every- 
thing made ready. The whole anny 
started on the 26th day of August up 
the Chemung Valley — men, boats, 
horses and cattle. 

Sullivan had, from the first, de- 
termined not to be "Braddocked. " 
Starting from Tioga Point up the 
Chemung River, amid mountains on 
every side and which sometimes came 
clear to the water's edge, where it 
seemed impossible to take an army 
and especially to move heavy guns, 
two days were consumed on the 
marches and fordings. He knew that 
from every hilltop savage scouts and 
Butler's rangers were watching his 
movements. With unsleeping vigi- 
lance he kept his riflemen ahead and 



11 



on the flanks. His alertness was well 
rewarded. On Sunday morning, Au- 
gust 29, Parr's riflemen, being in the 
advance, seeing signs of Indians, a 
scout was ordered to climb the highest 
tree he could find and report. A party 
of Indians had appeared ahead of 
them and, after firing their guns, had 
run off, expecting that these "Bos- 



he discerned a long line of green run- 
ning up the hill and most suspiciously 
regular. He was confirmed in his idea 
that here was art and not nature, 
when he noticed lines of young trees 
in the open space (where he knew had 
been an Indian village, named New- 
town) that were set with a regularity 
unknown to nature. 




to T>1S i5it£M0ir/ Of ' 

tUSaSSMOMiiiat£:a 



I78S' 








Bronze Tablet on the w^all of the First Congregational Church. Concord, in Memory of Rev. Israel Evans. 
Presented by Hon. Henry K. Porter. Pittsburg, Pa. 



tonians" would follow the example of 
most militia men, w^ho, in pursuit, so 
often got into ambuscades. Parr's 
riflemen, of Morgan's regiment, how- 
ever, were trained Indian fighters and 
used to stratagem. Instead of pur- 
suit they waited for the report of the 
watcher in the tree-top, who, after 
long scrutiny discerned Indians in 
their war paint beyond Baldwin's 
Creek. Peering longer and further. 



Major Parr reporting to General 
Sullivan, the general commanding at 
once made his plans. Keeping back 
the cattle and horses under a guard, 
he ordered the riflemen to lie hidden 
along the banks of the creek to keep 
the enemy busy and be useful when- 
ever an arm, head or leg showed itself. 
On the little rising ground, where to- 
day stands the Methodist meeting 
house at Lohman, Proctor's artillery 



12 



was handsomely set in battery. Back 
of the riflemen, under cover of the 
cannon in the tall grass, Sullivan or- 
dered the Pennsylvania light troops 
to lie down. He sent Maxwell's New 
Jersey Brigade out to the left, near 
the river, and in the defile, to be ready 
to act at the right moment. To Poor's 
New Hampshire Brigade he assigned 
the task of a flank attack on the right. 
The men were to go up along Bald- 
win's Creek about a mile and a half, 
climb the hill, reach the crest and then 
charge into the rear of the entrench- 
ments. Clinton's New Yorkers were 
to follow and act as supports. 

Now in an un surveyed wilderness 
no commander can expect his subordi- 
nates to fulfill his expectation in point 
of time, especially when the general 
supposes the utterly unknown ground 
is to be ordinarily level, instead of 
being a morass. After marching over 
a mile, floundering through bog and 
mire, wading through Baldwin's 
Creek, it took some minutes for the 
regiments to re-form. Then began 
the climbing of that hill, which, if 
one attempts the task on a sultry day 
in late August he can appreciate what 
the New Hampshire men had to do — 
especially when it was, in 1779, over- 
grown with scrub oak and tall trees. 

Down below, Sullivan, not hearing 
the expected musketry fire on his 
right, so long waited for, three o'clock 
having come, and all the other troops 
in position, ordered Proctor to open 
with all his guns. Out flew the round 
shot from the five-inch howitzers and 
six-pounders, knocking out and rip- 
ping up the logs in the line of forti- 
fication and maldng great gaps visible. 
Then followed the grape from the 
smaller guns, while the howitzers and 
coehom threw shell. The bombs, fall- 
ing over and behind the Indians, were 
more terrible in their moral effect 
than if exploded among them. Soon 
it became impossible longer for Brant 
to hold his tribesm.en, especially as 
the riflemen and light troops had be- 
gun to utilize the breaches in the forti- 



fications to pour in a deadly hail of 
bullets. 

By this time, at the extreme right, 
the Indian watchers on the hilltops 
caught the gleam of bayonets and 
realizing the nearness of Poor's First 
New Hampshire Kegiment, sent word 
to Brant, who rather welcomed the 
news. Leading off the main body of 
his savages from being targets for 
artillery into more congenial activi- 
ties, this able chief prepared to en- 
velop and destroy the Second New 
Hampshire Kegiment, under Colonel 
Reid. In the movement Poor, with 
the First Regiment, was far away on 
the right, while Dearborn, on the ex- 
treme left, had hardly formed his 
men, so that Reid's Second Regiment 
was isolated and soon was enveloped 
by a semi-circle of red men yelling 
until hell seemed let loose, and firing 
as if they expected a quick harvest of 
scalps. 

Happily Sullivan had ordered to 
go with each regiment a company^ of 
fifty of Parr's riflemen. It is my be- 
lief, though I may be wrong, that the 
New Hampshire men actually went 
into battle without their guns loaded. 
Some days before a messenger from 
Washington had reached the camp, 
bringing the news that Gen. Anthony 
Wayne, with his Pennsylvanians 
(after killing all the dogs in the whole 
region so that they could not bark) 
had actually taken Stony Point, with- 
out firing a shot, by the cold steel 
alone. 

Now it would never do for men 
from the Granite State to believe, or 
have it even supposed, that Pennsyl- 
vanians — at that time Germans, 
Dutch, Irish and Scotch being in the 
majority — could ever beat New 
Hampshire men. Certainly the sol- 
diers of Poor's brigade expected to re- 
peat and excel Stony Point. They 
fixed bayonets before they climbed the 
hill. It was on record that not one 
of them at first fired a shot; but the 
riflemen, who had no bayonets, never 
let their guns be unloaded for a mo- 



13 



ment. They occupied the enemy with 
a smart fire until Reid's men could 
load ; but for several minutes it looked 
pretty black, while a dozen or more of 
the Continentals lay dead or wounded 
on the ground. As matter of fact, 
most of the Americans killed or 
wounded in this decisive battle were 
New Hampshire men of Reid's regi- 
ment. 

It may be safely said that Dearborn 
and the Third New Hampshire Regi- 
ment saved the day. Too far away 
from his commander. Poor, who was 
probably a mile distant, to get orders, 
Dearborn was yet near enough to 
Reid's regiment to see what the 
trouble was and to take in the situ- 
ation. So, of his own initiative, he 
ordered his entire regiment "about 
face." Then, charging upon the In- 
dians, he struck them in the rear. By 
that time Reid's men, covered by the 
riflemen, had loaded and seeing the 
help coming to them fired and then 
charged with the bayonet on the great 
body of Indians, first starting them on 
the run and then driving from tree 
to tree and cover to cover any of them 
who tried to make a stand. 

Meanwhile, down below, Butler's 
Rangers, seeing inevitable destruction 
before them, began to retreat, some 
dashing across the river to save them- 
selves. The moment Sullivan saw 
signs of wavering he ordered the 
Pennsylvania Light Troops to charge 
across Baldwin's Creek and over the 
entrenchments. Inside and beyond 
the lines there ensued a running fight 
with such brave Rangers or Indians 
who tried even for a moment to fire 
before their flight. As Maxwell's, 
Hand's, Poor's and Clinton's bri- 
gades, soon in sight of each other, 
realized their victory the whole host 
gave three ringing cheers. Although 
only twelve corp.ses and two prisoners 
were found on the battlefield — for 
the wounded had been quickly con- 
veyed away in canoes up the river — 
the signs of the dreadful work done 
by the shot and the shell of the artil- 



lery, to say nothing of the rifles and 
musketry, were abundantly manifest 
on the reddened grass, the torn and 
splintered trees, and the blood-bespat- 
tered packs and baggage. It is my 
own opinion that at least one hun- 
dred of that mixed host fighting for 
King George — Iroquois, Canadian 
Rangers, British Regulars, Tories and 
a few negroes, were put Jiors du com- 
bat. 

The losses on our side were three 
killed on the field, Corporal Hunter 
and two privates, and thirty-three 
wounded, all but four of these lat- 
ter being from Reid's Second New 
Hampshire Regiment. Among these 
were Maj. Benjamin Titcomb of 
Dover, N. H. ; and Elijah Clayes, cap- 
tain of the second company, both of 
the Second New Hampshire Regi- 
ment; Sergeant Lane and Sergeant 
Oliver Thurston; beside Nathaniel 
Macaulay of Litchfield, N. H., who 
died after an amputation, that night; 
while Abner Dearborn, a lad of eight- 
een and nephew of Colonel Dearborn, 
breathed his last a few days after in 
the rude hospital at Tioga Point. 
Sergeant Demeret, Josiah Mitchell 
and Sylvester Wilkins died before 
September 19, thus making a total of 
eight men, all from New Hampshire, 
who gave their lives in one of the 
most significant, important and deci- 
sive battles of the whole war. Those 
who died upon the field were buried 
in different places, each one near the 
spot where he fell. To conceal the 
fresh broken earth of the graves and 
prevent desecration of the remains, 
fires were built over them. From Ti- 
oga Point such of the wounded as 
could endure the journey were sent 
by boat in care of Doctor Eamball, 
down the river to Wyoming, which 
place they reached September 2. 

One may reasonably ask why, with 
apparently so much firing by such 
large numbers, the casualties were so 
few, yet it must be remembered that 
on our side, both the riflemen and the 
Pennsylvania Brigade, invisible to the 



14 



a 



enemy, were well protected by the 
banks of Baldwin's Creek on their 
front, and the enemy had no artil- 
lery; while in the real battle, on the 
upper heights to the right, our men 
had to charge up a steep incline, the 
savages probably firing over their 
heads. Down below the artillery did 
the main execution, both in taking 
life and by hastening demoralization, 
which in war is almost as important 
in effects as is carnage ; indeed, it 
is often more. There was relatively 
also not a great use of musketry, for 
the only full regiments that actually 
faced a visible foe in force were the 
Second and Third New Hampshire. 
Then again, in the running fight 
through the woods, anything like a 
general slaughter was impossible. 

On the British side, by their own 
statements, it was said: "Colonel 
Butler and all his people were sur- 
rounded and very near taken prison- 
ers. The colonel lost four rangers 
killed, two taken prisoners and seven 
wounded," besides losing his commis- 
sion, private baggage and money. 
The Indian record was found at the 
place called Catherine's Town, four 
days afterwards, where a tree, 
marked 1779, and signed with Brant's 
name, had a rude picture of twelve 
men, each with an arrow pierced 
through his body, signifying the num- 
ber of his men killed in the action of 
the 29th. No wounded were found on 
the battlefield. As we all know, it 
was Indian custom to withdraw in- 
stantly the wounded and often the 
dead. This was done usually by at- 
taching a "tumpline" to limb or 
trunk and drawing off the body; so 
that the curious sight of seeing an 
apparent corpse, or utterly disabled 
man, moving over the leaves and out 
of sight was often witnessed by the 
backwoods fighters in colonial and 
Revolutionary days. Each savage, be- 
fore setting out on a raid, took an 
oath that he would perform this of- 
fice for his fellow tribesman. It is 
known that several canoesful of 
wounded were carried up the river. 



As late as 1903, Col. Ernest Cruik- 
shank, in his ''Story of Butler's 
Rangers," admits a loss of five white 
men killed or missing and three 
wounded and an Indian loss of five 
killed and nine wounded. 

It is not necessary to detail further 
the story of this expedition. Indeed, 
for dramatic purposes, to set the 
event most effectively in historical 
perspective after one hundred and 
thirty-one years, we might profitably 
stop at this point. Here was one 
of the most decisive battles fought 
during the whole Revolutionary 
War, for neither numbers nor area 
are necessary to effect enduring 
results. The truth is that the tribes of 
the Long House had gathered for a 
supreme effort and that the result was 
a virtual destruction of the Iroquois 
Confederacy. Furthermore, it ended 
the flank attacks on the Continental 
army and destroyed the dearly cher- 
ished hope of the British government 
to create in central New York a gran- 
ary for the feeding of its armies. To 
a great extent it weakened even the 
petty raids of the scalping parties, for 
the country was so absolutely devas- 
tated, that the Indians could not oc- 
cupy the land either that season or, 
profitably, for several years. In the 
coming winter, too cold even for hunt- 
ing, the discouraged horde huddled 
around Fort Niagara and were kept 
from starvation by salted provisions, 
imported mostly from Ireland. The 
Indians died like sheep in a blizzard. 
It is true that the very next year 
Brant led a large body of warriors as 
far as Tioga Point, but we never hear 
of their accomplishing anything im- 
portant, while the injury done in the 
Mohawk Valley was very largely the 
work of Butler's Rangers, white men 
from Canada reinforced by British 
troops. This battle at Newtown on 
August 29, 1779. paralyzed the In- 
dian Confederacy, so that it never was 
again what it had been since the ad- 
vent of white men upon the continent, 
viz., a powerful factor in interna- 
tional politics and war. 



15 



In a word, Sullivan carried out his 
orders given by Washington. He 
achieved the devastation of the Iro- 
quois country. Striking northward, 
along Seneca Lake, to where Geneva 
now stands, he pushed forward to his 
goal — the great Seneca town in the 
Genesee Valley. Leaving the weak and 
lame at Honeoye, with a garrison and 
two field pieces, he made a forced 
march with two thousand, five hun- 
dred men, and at the outlet of Con- 
esus Lake found Brant and Butler 
with reinforcements from Canada. 
These were all nicely hidden on 
the bluffs in ravines and at points of 
vantage, expecting this time, to a cer- 
tainty, to "Braddock" Sullivan. The 
episode of Boyd's scouting party dis- 
turbed the nice calculations of Indian 
and Tory, for, fearing, as at New- 
town, the flanking tactics of the New 
Hampshire men, the enemy broke his 
formations and fled. This was on the 
12th of September. 

The next day was given to destroy- 
ing the great town of one hundred 
and twenty-eight houses, with the 
cornfields, which stood about where 
Cuylerville is today. The produce of 
two hundred acres of corn in ear and 
the gardens was leveled or cut down, 
piled in the houses and given to the 
flames. Several days were occupied 
in this work. Then the word, given 
September 15 at 2 p. m., was the joy- 
ful one of return. At Geneva, Sep- 
tember 20, Sullivan sent Colonel 
Gansevoort home by the way of the 
Mohawk Valley. Col. William Butler, 
with the Fourth Pennsylvania, was or- 
dered to move down the east side and 
Colonel Dearborn, with the Third 
New Hampshire, down the west side 
of Cayuga Lake. All were kept busy 
for many days in the common work 
of the main army, in desolating with 
sword and fire the Indian villages, 
forty of which in all, during the cam- 



paign, were given to the flames. It 
was this devastation, peremptorily 
ordered by Washington, that gave 
him in Iroquois tradition the perma- 
nent name of "Town Destroyer." In 
this work Dearborn's troops occupied 
from September 21st to the 26th. 
Among places passed through and 
later the site of towns was Ithaca. 
Of the Indian villages burned, the 
most famous was Coreorganel, near 
the future University City. Thence 
across the country to Camp Reid, 
near the later site of Elmira and 
' ' four miles from where we fought the 
enemy the 29th of August," as Dear- 
born records, he joined the main body. 
The army had "a day of rejoicing" 
the day before, "in consequence of 
news from Spain, ' ' — that is, recogni- 
tion of the United States as an inde- 
pendent nation. 

The return march, the destruction 
of Fort Sullivan at Tioga Point, the 
boat voyage down the Susquehanna, 
the traversing of Pocono Plateau and 
the arrival at Easton on the 15th of 
October followed in due course. On 
the 17th a solemn service of thanks- 
giving, with "A Discourse Delivered 
. to the Officers and Soldiers 
of the Western Army ... by 
Chaplain Israel Evans to General 
Poor's Brigade" (and later printed 
in pamphlet form by Thomas Brad- 
ford in Philadelphia) officially con- 
cluded "the Expedition against the 
Five Nations of Hostile Indians," in 
which the men of New Hampshire 
made a vital factor. 

In view of the historic facts, is it 
not the binding duty of the people of 
New Hampshire to rear on the New- 
town battlefield some durable token 
of their appreciation of the services 
of their brave Continentals, who bore 
themselves so nobly in one of the most 
decisive battles of the American Revo- 
lution ? 




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